


In Which Celebrian Chooses to Stay

by halwen



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Female-Centric, Gen, Podfic Welcome, What-If, in celebrian's backstory, warning: mention of rape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 01:37:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5987722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halwen/pseuds/halwen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>The Red Book of Westmarch contains the names of few women, and it is unfortunate when even a single of them is lost. The name of Celebrían is one such; she chose to sail to the Undying Lands rather than remain in Middle Earth. And yet we might imagine what other choices she might have been able to make, had she chosen to stay.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Which Celebrian Chooses to Stay

The Red Book of Westmarch contains the names of few women, and it is unfortunate when even a single of them is lost. The name ofCelebrían is one such; though her mother, father, husband, children, grandchildren all appear, she herself is only present as a silhouette, only visible through absence. Sister volumes reveal her fate: attacked on the road, rescued, but incompletely healed, she chose to sail to the Undying Lands rather than remain in Middle Earth. 

We cannot know what she suffered, though living eyes and ears may imagine, and living tongues may guess. It is not our place to question her choices, which she alone could make. She is of the histories, and none now living can know her thoughts. 

And yet, we might dream of what other choices she might have made, had she chosen to stay.

Her beloved children, though no longer children to any but herself and her husband, might have had a longer time with her. She might have taught her children to wield the short sword of the Galadhrim, and teased them as they blocked and parried her attacks. She might have braided Elladan's hair for him to keep it back while on patrol, and walked by the Bruinen with Elrohir, and laughed with Arwen when the young colts bucked and pranced in the paddocks. She might have cared for Estel as her own, and raised him with all the care it was hers to give. She might have sat with him under the stars, and named them all one by one. She would have taken him to Lorien with her, to meet with the lord and lady there. He would have been afraid, having heard much of their great deeds, and would have been astonished when they greeted her as their daughter, as she was indeed.

She would have assisted her husband, for the rule of Imladris and the weight of Vilya upon his finger were heavy indeed, and he often grew weary. She would have had no interest in the One Ring, though she was aware of its power, and knew herself well enough to know the frailty of her spirit and the necessity of avoiding that burden. The weight of Imladris she could lift, however, and the seneschal and the other retinue would have learned to apply to her rather than disturb her husband.

As the lady of the house, she would have been present at welcome feasts for guests to the valley, and in this manner she would have met Bilbo, Thorin, Frodo and the rest. She would not have interfered with the elves' gentle teasing of their guests, being of a like mind, but she would have ensured that none left the valley wanting, or in ill-spirits.

She would have been present at the wedding of her daughter to the boy she helped raise, and she would have wept tears of joy to see the happiness in their faces.

She would have wept tears again, when her sons informed their parents of their decision to stay with their sister and forsake the Undying Lands. She would not attempt to change their minds, but in the sanctuary of their rooms, she and Elrond would have wept together, in the knowledge that all their children would be lost to them forever.

Some time later, at the docks of Mithlond, she would have seen Frodo again. He would be older, frailer, with the air of one who has seen many years go by, though his years would been scant when held against hers. She would have greeted him kindly, then followed him onboard. In the time that followed, in the space between shores, she would have told him something of what had happened to her, caught by orcs in the mountains. And slowly, in the awkward cadences of words never before given voice, he would have told her something of his story, of a golden ring, and a knife in the dark, and foul spiders in the shadows. And in the telling, both would have found comfort.


End file.
